CityOfBartlett.org has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top city government websites in the state of Tennessee. Below you'll find an interview with the City of Bartlett.
- CityOfBartlett.org is a top-notch web portal; what has been your role in its development?
Together Debbie Morrison and Kevin Franz collaborated on the design and layout of the current website. Together, they searched for a suitable Content Management solution to provide dynamic pages with search capability to maximize the Citizen’s experience. Ms. Morrison, the City of Bartlett’s Director of Community Relations, and Mr. Franz, the City’s Information Technology Manager, selected CivicPlus as their host provider and website software management solution. The website in general is constantly changing with news updates and current events being posted. Morrison and Franz continue to update the site on a weekly basis and strive to bring fresh content to the Citizens to help keep them informed.
- Can you summarize the history of Bartlett’s web portal?
The City of Bartlett started with a ‘flat’ website in the early part of this decade. The information presented was stale and rarely up to date. In 2006, Debbie Morrison and Kevin Franz were given the task of revamping the City’s website and after many months of work, the new current site was unveiled in April 2007.
- What are the overarching objectives of Bartlett’s current e-government initiatives?
The City of Bartlett wanted to give the Citizens a portal to current events, news and information that was occurring in the City Departments and community. The website is intended to be an information hub for the Citizens, giving them access to calendars and gateways to the various departments.
- From a marketing standpoint, what are some of the strategies that you have utilized to draw attention to the information and services provided by CityOfBartlett.org, both on- and off-line?
Any paper flyers, brochures etc that is being circulated generally has the City’s website advertised on it. Our local television broadcast refers to the website for many events and news references.
- How has citizen feedback influenced the development of Bartlett’s e-government services?
The Citizens have overwhelmingly grasped the website and applauded its ease of use. With this response, we have implemented more on-line services and forms to better equip our Citizens with today’s technology.
- What is the most-used feature or service on the site?
I would say the most used feature on the site is the News and Announcements section. Citizens want to be informed on what is currently going on and what is scheduled.
- How many people use the notification service and what different kind of information is available through this program?
Currently the City has over 4000 email/text users signed up to receive notifications via the website program. Information regarding Community Alerts, Bids and Shows offered at our Performing Arts and Conference Center are among the types of alerts that are sent out periodically.
- How do you collaborate with other city departments to ensure that citizens have access to as much relevant and useful government information as possible?
Because the website was developed with a Content Management software program, each Department has been given the task of updating their individual Department web pages as needed. Whenever something important changes, the Departments are right on top of making that change for the Citizens to see. This helps the overall site to be as dynamic as possible offering the latest information available at each Department level.
- Where do you see e-government heading in the next 2-3 years? Are there any exciting new features or services currently in the works for Bartlett’s web portal?
The City of Bartlett plans to offer more on-line services to the Citizens of Bartlett in the upcoming near future. One project on the horizon is adding the capability of allowing the Citizens to pay their water bills online.
- What else that you would like to tell us about CityOfBartlett.org?
The City of Bartlett website is what it is because of a group collaboration of all the City Departments and the individuals within those Departments that update and maintain their particular sections. Without this collaboration, the website would soon be obsolete. Instead, this website stays current and is always changing and offering new information.